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How can sky charge £60 for swapping boxes when HD is box is only £49?!
Young Turks
Posts: 3,262 Forum Member
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I got an email from sky offering me Sky HD box for £49, which I thought was a good price, until I read the small print.
They want £60 for installation! They do know I have sky+ set up so there is nothing to install but just a straight swapping of boxes.
This must be the world's most expensive installation cost as there is nothing to install!
I would understand the cost if I didn't have the set up for Sky+ already but there is no way I am paying £60 for just swapping the cost.
How can they charge something they can't provide, as there is no need for any installation?
Needless to say I deleted the email :rolleyes:
They want £60 for installation! They do know I have sky+ set up so there is nothing to install but just a straight swapping of boxes.
This must be the world's most expensive installation cost as there is nothing to install!
I would understand the cost if I didn't have the set up for Sky+ already but there is no way I am paying £60 for just swapping the cost.
How can they charge something they can't provide, as there is no need for any installation?
Needless to say I deleted the email :rolleyes:
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Comments
Well, they have to employ a person to drive to you. It will take a finite time for him/her to get to you and then back to other work. There's a van to be paid for (with insurance, road tax and servicing). There are admin issues (someone to set up the appointment, etc,.) Wherever there are people involved there are all the related costs of employment.
And of course, being a company, there must be a profit element (or a company wouldn't do it).
That must all add up to something !
If you want to self-install (as I did) they just buy a box elsewhere ... but don't expect it to be subsidised to £49 !
Of course it must all add up to something but trying to charge their customers for nothing is comical. I don't need to buy a box I have never asked for one.
I easily swap a cable from sky+ to my freesat HD box when I need it, so I know it takes no more than a minute for which sky want £60!
Then their email should say £105 not £49.
Well in your case installation cost is well worth it but for customers like myself, who already have the sky+ set up, the cost can't be justified.
No problem then just buy your own box (£299) and install it yourself.
All depends on how long you have had sky+. I had sky+ fitted about 4 years ago and sky digital for about 6 years before that. I upgraded to Sky HD+ when the engineer came he took one look at dish near on 10 years old and replaced it. looked at cabelling 4 years old and replaced it.
The installation cost should cover new dish / cabeling / LNB if the existing kit needs to be replaced.
Why are you swapping cables? It's easy enough to install an extra cable for the Freesat box.
I bought one from eBay for £79 fitted it myself and got Sky to pair the card to it....
Why would anyone pay £299 for the box that Sky gives away for £49? Do I sound that stupid? :rolleyes:
I agree it should cover all those things which are not needed in my case.
I'd rather pay more to make sure sky don't live in my house :rolleyes:
Because this is a communal set-up in a block of flats, so I can't have an extra cable for the freesat HD.
I have to swap cables when I watch HD, e.g last night, I did that to watch Champions League in HD.
No they wouldn't need to change the dish at all. I had Sky+ put in last year and no dish or cable were touched because;
I live in a block of flats which were built about a couple of years ago. We have a communal dish and all flats have already been wired for sky+ set up.
The dish and cabling do not need changing, even if it did, sky wouldn't be allowed to touch it, as we'd have to report it therefore there is nothing anyone can say, in my case, to justify Sky's £60 installation charge.
But I have to give you lot the credit as you all try your best to defend the indefensible in this case :rolleyes:
Well there you are then they don't and you do - you should be very happy.:)
Are you suggesting that he was a bit cheeky/lazy not to look at that (just curious - it's working fine anyway)?
HD boxes seem to need better signal than sky or sky+ boxes.
As for Young Turks - I agree with the other posters - if you don't like it, source your own box and install it yourself.
For him to suddenly add extra info (lives in flat communal dish etc etc) to defend his position isn't on.
As for 'who would pay £299 for a box you can get for £49' - answers:
1 - people who don't want to pay for 12 mths HD subs
2 - people who want to choose the make of their HD box
3 - people who object to the installation fee
..... need I go on?
Technically you don't have a house you have a flat!:rolleyes:
Assuming you are referring to a NEW HD box not a 2ndhand one please let me know where from
many thanks in anticipation
However, given that they force you to subscribe for a year to the basic service and the HD service it does seem excessive for simple swap overs.
Box £49
Install £60
HD charge £117
Basic service £210
Making your £49 box actually £436.
My advice, go get a freesat PVR from John Lewis for £249 and do the swap yourself.
No it was a 2nd hand one - but works perfectly. It is an Amstrad.
Fair enough it's your advice but I hope you're not trying to imply that an installed Freesat PVR is functionally equivalent to an installed Sky HD box. That would be a gross misrepresentation, wouldn't it?
I thought as much! Amstrad = works perfectly does not equate (for a start the contrast problem!)
He would ..... and yes it would!
It is already a well documented topic on here and doesn't need more and more threads along the lines of "why do I have to pay installation etc"
Either pay the £60 and enjoy HD or don't........but please quit trying to start arguments with helpful people on here by typing things in bold!!!
Clearly you don't read the post you reply to.
a) I don't need to defend anything
b) The extra info were added because I was told the dish was needed to be changed which was not the case, even if it was, sky wouldn't be allowed to do so.
c) It is clear that sky is trying to charge for the installation they can't provide or needed.
Why would anyone pay £299 for those reasons? They could go and buy a freesat PVR and end up with a PVR and pay less.
Anyone, who doesn't want sky HD channels or 12 months HD subs, must be mad to pay £299 for Sky HD box, as the freesat HD box cost less and gives PVR functions.
You are right I don't want to pay an installation fee, as there is nothing to install.
I am already enjoying HD so I don't need to pay £60 for nothing. Also please quit trying to tell people whether they should start a topic or not, as it is none of your business.
I do read the posts I reply to - you started the discussion complaining about the installation fee, without giving the full facts (ie the communal dish etc) - when you didn't like the reply you then added that info in to support your argument.
As for not buying a sky HD box if you don't want sky HD channels - have you ever considered that they might want to replace a failed/aging multiroom sky+ box with future-proofing so that when sky remove the ridiculous monthly HD fee on multiroom boxes they will have a box ready to take advantage of this.
Going the freesat+HD rout is an option, but not a serious one for most people who have sky (unless they wish to ditch sky entirely) - why pay £300 for a box that will provide you with 1 part-time HD channel(bbc) and one almost never channel(itv) - apart from the odd footie match there is little on to benefit from HD coverage anyway.
You still seem to think that delivery and connection of your HD box is 'nothing' - clearly you have never run a company providing a service as if you did it for nothing you wouldn't have made any money and would have gone bust.
Agreed. Sky don't want them to - the customer doesn't want to. Sky don't want anybody to have a Sky HD box if they aren't going to subscribe to Sky TV. No point. It's not making Sky any money. Let's put the Sky boxes into Sky TV subscriber's homes - and let the people who don't watch subscription TV use the free PVR boxes. That way - everybody's happy. I'm getting a very strong feeling of deja vu here...
That's what I don't understand about people like Rapture TV and suffolktoon. They get on their high horse about a Sky HD box (or a Sky+ box) actually costing you far more than the sales price - because you are forced to subscribe to Sky TV or the HD Pack or pay for Sky+ functionality to make use of it. But what they don't understand is that the reason for a Sky box's existence is to provide Sky TV to the Sky customerer. Not to provide free TV to somebody who isn't a Sky customer. And Sky TV (or any subscription TV) costs money in terms of a monthly subscription. If you don't want subscription TV, don't get a subscription TV box!
Get a Freesat or Freeview box - which will cost more in the first place but will not have a monthly ongoing cost - and leave the Sky+ and Sky HD boxes for people who want, and are prepared to pay for, subscription TV. After all, that's what they were designed for.
Don't start chucking your toys out of the pram because you can't have all the functionality that a Sky customer has if you aren't prepared to pay for it. Go down the subscription free TV route, and bathe in your free TV channels. Leave the subscription TV to the big boys - along with the subscription TV boxes.